FHHOA Board Meeting Outcome - No action taken on the two vacated board seats

Tonight’s Forest Heights Board of Directors meeting did not formally address the question of the vacated board positions. Currently, the board will remain a 9-member board with no action being taken to fill the two vacant seats. The board will consider in September five (5) amendments to bylaws of the association. The five amendments that will be considered:

1. Time frame for the annual meetings – the board will consider establishing May and the month for the annual board meeting
2. Change to Election for directors – change the requirement for a person to be elected to the board during a general election by plurality (the number of votes that an election winner gets, or the number exceeding the nearest rival, when no one has more than 50 percent of the total votes cast) vote, rather than the current required majority vote.
3. Change to elections – formalize an electronic voting system for the association.
4. Electronic notifications – formalize the use of electronic notification for the majority of the association business. Will include provision for members to opt-out of electronic communication in lieu of traditional mail notices.
5. Change in the number of directors. The proposal being considered would reduce the size of the board from nine (9) elected directors to seven (7).

A couple of historical notes regarding the proposed changes to the bylaws:
#2 - in recent elections, it has been very difficult to declare a winner due the current requirement that the elected person must receive a majority of the votes. The change to requiring a plurality would require the elected to receive more votes than their opponents, however, would not require a 50%+1 majority vote.

#3 – Recent changes in the laws that govern HOA activities in the state have been changed in the past few years that recognize the legitimacy and practicality of electronic voting methods. As state law already supports electronic voting, the proposed change to the bylaws would simply formalize the governing documents to reflect this position.

#4 – Likewise, state law has changed in recent years to allow electronic communication to serve as the required notification for many of the association’s normal activities. Activates that are not permitted by electronic communication under the new law include delinquency notification or collection activity, nor the assessment of fines for violations of association rules. Again, members may elect to opt-out and receive a more traditional notice via 1st class mail.

During the open forum: myself and neighbor from the Brownstones both spoke in opposition to the idea of reducing the size of the board of direction and submitted our names as candidates to fill the two vacant seats. The board made no action or comments during the meeting, however the board was provided with our candidacy papers that outlined our experiences and qualifications, as well as our priorities while serving as board members.

On a few other fronts, the board voted to have the General Manager actively pursue speeding up the timeline for work on the pond, currently set for major work in 2012 according to the reserve study. Estimates for the repair work that may be needed range from $250,000 - $400,000.

The board voted to continue work on Mill Pond Park to address a drainage issue that exists in the field. The board has approved the additional expenditure of $8,000 to correct the issue and has contracted with Willamette to complete the work (they have already done the same work on the majority of the field that has been remedied).

Heading the call for more transparency and accountability, the Treasurer and budget committee will be publishing more detail and supporting schedules for the current quarterly financial analysis. This information will be posted to Forest Heights websitein the next week.

Finally, Michael Fletcher, Vice-president and acting president was unanimously elected as the new president of the board of directors. The election of a new vice-president was tabled until the next meeting so board members could discuss amongst themselves their thoughts on possible candidates.

My thanks to Larry Slobin and the other 15 or so residents of Forest Heights who attended the board meeting.

Parking Committee - DRAFT of proposed parking regulations

The parking committee members have put together a preliminary draft of the proposed parking regulations for within Creekside. If you have any thoughts or comments, please feel free to post them here or to speak with a member of the parking committee. They are: Donna Thomas, Darnel Geiss, Maureen Sullivan and Shirley Wheeler. ! Many thanks to them for their time and efforts to tackle this difficult but very important topic.

GOALS: Minimize congestion within Creekside by placing equal burden on all homeowners. Provide a control mechanism to aid enforcement.

Proposed Parking Solution:

• Each home is allotted parking for two vehicles per unit. This count includes garage stalls.
• No driveway parking is allowed for any home.
• Homes with a two stall garage are not allowed on-street parking.
• Homes with a single stall garage are allowed on-street parking for one vehicle only (including in front of their unit or other location where permit parking is allowed).
• Parking not permitted by any owner in front of another owner’s home without that owner’s permission.
• On-street parking is by permit only. One permit will be issued to each home with a single stall garage. Permit must be visible at all times.
• All non-permit parking is required to locate off Creekside premises (i.e.: Miller Road).
• The north side of Burkhart to be designated as guest parking only (**see note below).
• No parking at the North end of Burnett.
• No parking at the corner of Burkhart/Burnett.
• No parking at the north corner of Burkhart/Jean.
• No parking allowed for oversized vehicles. An oversized vehicle shall be defined as any vehicle that cannot fit inside the owner’s garage stall.

**Note: As an indication of fairness on the part of the parking committee, it should be noted that this is a restriction that burdens only those with a permit/single stall garage…but benefits all 33 owners.

FINAL REMINDER - Street closure for Friday, July 10th

Good Afternoon Creekside,

Everything appears to be set for the seal coat to be applied tomorrow. Once again, the streets will be inaccessible to vehicles from 7:30am Friday to 10:30am Saturday (if all goes well). A tow truck will be on site at 7:30am to move vehicles that are parked on the street or in a driveway, but I hope that will not be necessary. Upon follow-up with the tow company, it turn out will we NOT be able to move the vehicles to NW Miller Rd, but rather the vehicles will be taken to the impound lot. My apologies for the short notice, but the tow company just let us know that. If a vehicle is towed, it will be at the owners expense. I'll be walking around the community in the morning to give everyone a last minute reminder of the tow potential.

Thanks again for your patience.

Matt

Driveway Entrance Repair

Repair work on the entrance driveway has been completed. For those of you who may not want to "check it out", check it out here.

While not overly sexy and full of pizazz, it is truly a needed repair.

4th of July @ Mill Pond Park

Happy 4th of July everyone. It was great running into some of the neighbors at the annual 4th of July celebration at Mill Pond Park. There was fun music and dancing, desserts-o-plenty and lots of beverages, including some of the "adult" variety.

A few people supporting the "Save Mill Pond" coalition were present talking to our FH neighbors about the happenings within Forest Heights and the actions of the board. Once again, a number of our neighbors were surprised to hear what is going on, while a few others had read about these activities in the NW Examiner. It was nice meeting some new people.

Members of the FHHOA staff were busy manning some of the booths (adult beverages) to ensure the entertainment flowed. Thanks to them for the efforts. The night ended with a fun firework show from across the pond. All and all, everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves.

Thanks to all who attended, hope you had a great night.

Save Mill Pond Coalition Update

On Thursday, July 2nd a number of concerned residents of Forest Heights gathered to evaluate and reflect upon recent happenings and outline priorities for the upcoming months.

As has been previously announced, two members of the FH HOA Board of Directors, including President Tim Tees have resigned effective immediately. These two new vacancies will be topics of discussion at the upcoming board meeting on Tuesday, July 15 @ 6 PM. In the most recent FH HOA e-Newsletter, it was announced that the board will consider reducing the size of the board of directors from 9 to 7, rather than fill the two open board seats.

Many expressed concerns about this possibility as doing so would concentrate more power into fewer hands. Additionally, we believe that this action would move the board further from a transparent governing body we have been missing for so long.

The group brainstormed some priorities for the coming weeks and months and came up with the following goals:

1. Continue to push forward with the signature drive to petition for a special meeting to call for a vote the three questions being asked to be brought before the membership at large.


2. Oppose the possible vote to reduce the size of the board of directors. Two residents will put their names forward as qualified candidates to fill the vacant board seats.


3. Push for a more transparent board, where the activities and decisions of this body are made in the light of day.


4. Identify the money, specifically the amount held in reserves and any special "slush funds"


5. Effective communication: promoting open communication within FH HOA via the newsletter and website and maintaining active updates on the NW Heights Blog.

A number of people in attendance will be joining in the fun and seeking signatures at the Annual 4th of July event at Mill Pond. You'll see them wearing light blue "Save Mill Pond" t-shirts.

Anyone interested in joining us at the next FHHOA board meeting, the meeting will be at 6:00 PM at the Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue Station # 60 Community Room ~ 8585 NW Johnson St., Portland OR 97229

Directions: Turn right onto Cornell at NW Miller and left near the French American School where you can see the Fire Station. Parking is limited, consider carpooling!